Urinary Excretion of 5-Hydroxyindole Acetic Acid, A Serotonin Metabolite, in Hypertensive Renal-Vascular Disease.

Abstract

The urinary excretion of 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid in patients with malignant hypertension and chronic glomerular nephritis is reported. Low levels were recorded for 3 patients exhibiting the malignant phase of hypertensive cardiovascular disease and in each patient with chronic glomerular nephritis. All patients exhibited extensive renal involvement and 5 of the 6 patients with malignant hypertension had severe arterial lesions. The 2 patients on whom determinations were made after removal of early carcinoid tumors did not show abnormal urinary 5-hydroxyindole acetic acid levels. Recovery studies show that proteinuria does not interfere with the determination of 5HIAA in the urine.